Health workers to help eradicate diseases<\/p>\n
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Health will deploy up to 80,000 medical workers
\nin 76,000 villages next year across the country to support the
\ngovernment program to eradicate communicable diseases and improve
\ncommunity health.<\/p>\n
\"The health workers could be medical attendants or nurses.
\nThey will be assigned mostly to remote areas,\" the Minister of
\nHealth, Achmad Sujudi told a hearing with House Commission VII on
\nhealth and population affairs on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The workers will be located close to the community, enabling
\nthem to educate and motivate people to lead a healthy lifestyle
\nand identify people with communicable diseases who need
\nattention.<\/p>\n
Under the program, communicable diseases refer to malaria,
\ndengue fever, tuberculosis and upper tract respiratory
\ninfections.<\/p>\n
Sujudi said eradicating malaria or dengue fever was more
\ndifficult than other communicable diseases like the recent Severe
\nAcute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which briefly became a global
\nthreat.<\/p>\n
\"In the case of malaria and dengue fever, mosquitoes are
\nvectors. And it would be next to impossible to totally remove the
\ninsect from the environment,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"With the assignment of these health officers, we expect the
\neradication program to be more fruitful.\"<\/p>\n
In many cases, he said, tuberculosis patients stop taking
\ntheir medication when they feel better, although they are
\nsupposed to have continuous treatment for six months.<\/p>\n
\"To eradicate tuberculosis, the health workers will help the
\npatients to stick to their medication,\" said the minister.<\/p>\n
In Bangladesh, said Sujudi, people were recruited to remind
\ntuberculosis patients to take their medication. For that they
\nreceived compensation for each patient who recovered.<\/p>\n
Sujudi said the program would cost the government about Rp 1.6
\ntrillion (US$188.2 million) for health workers' wages.<\/p>\n
\"It will cost a lot, but in terms of the anticipated results
\nit is reasonable,\" Sujudi said.<\/p>\n
The health workers will be treated as temporary nurses (PTT)
\nwith a monthly wage of about Rp 2 million.<\/p>\n
According to the Indonesian family health survey in 2001, the
\nnumber of people suffering from malaria reached about 15 million
\nper year, while some 30,000 died as a result of the disease.<\/p>\n
While for tuberculosis, Indonesia has the third largest
\nincidence of the disease after India and China. It is estimated
\nthere are about 583,000 people suffering from tuberculosis in
\nIndonesia.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/health-workers-to-help-eradicate-diseases-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}